Massive news coming out today as the Iowa Hawkeyes (men and women) have announced that they will be sponsored by the UFC. The UFC is the biggest MMA organization which to this day is still a rapidly growing sport bringing in over a hundred million dollars per ppv event they put on.
Iowa head coach Tom Brands talked about why he thought the UFC and Iowa would be a good fit due to them both preaching physicality and toughness. He also went on to say that there is a bridge between the world of fighting and wrestling and this is why this partnership is perfect – via USA Wrestling.
Does this mean we could see the Iowa Hawkeyes compete on UFC Fight Pass like we saw with Battle at Bragg earlier this season. This would definitely be an interesting concept and bring a lot more eyes to wrestling as a whole.
Looking at some of the wrestlers in recent memory to come into the UFC you have Henry Cejudo, Daniel Cormier, Yoel Romero. Looking now at some of the new prospects everyone knows about Bo Nickal, and with Anthony Cassar making his debut at Ikon FC he looks to be on his way up to the UFC. The point being that a lot of former college wrestlers are looking to take the MMA career path more than ever and what a better way for the UFC to get into the wrestling scene than sponsoring a college team.
